Car-door mechanism



May 11 1926.

W. E. WINE CAR DOOR MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 50, 1924 May 11 1926,

W. E. WINE CAR DOOR MECHANI SM Filed Oct. 50, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 11, 192.6.

UITEt WILLIAM E. WINE, 0F TOLEDO, OHIO.

CAR-3300B MECHANISM.

Application filed October so, 1924.

h ly invention relates to mechanism for maintaining the door of a railway car in closed position. The principal object of the invention is to provide means whereby the mechanism by which the door is maintained in closed position is caused to assume proper locked relation to the door at the completion of the closing movement of the latter. Another object of the invention is to provide a door locking mechanism of the hook type with simple and efficient spring means adapted to be energized by a closing movement of the door to eiiect a locking operation of the hook.

Other objects and features of the inven tion, residing in advantageous relations of parts and particular details oil? construction will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings illustrating the invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims,-

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a fragmentary portion of a car hopper showi1; 9; a door locking" mechanism involving the invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an end view of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view partly in section and partly in side elevation showing the relations assumed by the parts when the door is open and indicating in dot and dash lines the position of the locking arm of the door as the latter approaches closed position.

Figure 1 is a detail sectional View on the line 1d, 1.

The door locking mechanism embodying the invention is shown as applied to a rail way car of a well known type and therefore only a portion of one 01": the hoppers of said car has been illustrat d. The hopper portion of the car body may be constructed in the usual manner with hopper side sheets 1 and a slope sheet or chute plate 2. The outer or tree edges of these plates define the opening tln'oup h which lading discharged from the hopper. The discharge opening of the hopperis normally closed by a swinging door 3 which may be hinged to the car body in any usual or desired manner and is adapted to swing to open position under the influence of gravity. The door 8 may advantageously be constructed of sheet metal. and preferably provided with outwardly projrting marginal flanges whichv serve to station it Serial No. 746,812.

The doors 3 or" the type of hopper car shown in the drawings are arranged 011 op posite sides 01 the car center sills and are rigidly connected in pairs so that they operate together and in effect constitute a single door. A spreader or stitlening beam 1 is employed for rigidly connecting the doors. in the present instance this spreader member is in the form 01 a .Z-bar attired to the door by means of rivets 5 and preferably terminating just inside of the marginal flange 6 at the outer edge of" the door.

A door arm 7 which forms an extension of the spreader t is rigidly riveted to the latter by means of rivets 8 and to the door by rivets 9. This arm may advantageously be formed as an angle iron which is bent or offset outwardly from the face of the door at 10 so as to pass beneath the outer marginal flange 5 of the door. The upstanding leg or flange 11 of the member 7 forms a locking ledge or seat adapted tobe engaged by the locking ledge or seat 12 of the hook 13 to maintain the door 3 in closed position. While the particular details of door construction illushated and described are preferred because of their simplicity, it is to be understood that the door locking mechanism now to be described may cooperate with doors of other form.

Pivotally mounted upon the car body is a hook member 13 whose ledge or shoulder 12 is adapted overlappingly to engage the flange 11 of the door arm so as to retain the door in closed position. This hook member may be in the form of a bell crank lever hav ing arelatively short arm 14 which has a portion offset or spaced outwardly from the side of the car and is preferably provided on its under surface with a curved bearing face 15 for cooperative engagement with the spring; device by which the hook is rotated to locked position at the end of the closing movement of the door,

Rigidity ali'ixed to the side sheet 1 of the car body by means of rivets 16, one o'l' which pro terably is located at the pivotal point of the hook 13 and another at the pivotal point of the locking cam 17, is a supporting bracket or plate member 18 upon which is mounted resilient means for causing a locking rotation ot the hook. For this purpose the bracket 18 is oreterably formed with a cy 'ndri al chamber 19 which is open at op is the. opening; at the end adjacent the arm 14 of the hook member being suiticiently large to permit the introduction of a coiled spring 20, and the opening at the end nearer the door being somewhat restricted in size so as to form a flange 21 constituting a stop for limiting the extent of outward movement of a headed plunger that is reciprocatingly mounted in said chamber. Instead of permitting the rear end of the spring to bear directly upon the arm 14: of the hook it is preferred to interpose a reciprocating plug or plunger 23 therebetween. This plug, which preferably is formed with a curved bearing tace 24 for cooperation with the arm 1d of the hook member, serves to prevent the entrance of dirt and the like into the spring chamber of the bracket.

A rotatable locking cam 17 is preferably associated with the hook 13 and bracket 18 to serve the familiar purpose of engaging the back of the book so as to prevent an unlocking rotation of the latter, although it will be appreciated that, when the door is closed, the spring 20 exerts pressure upon the arm 14 of the hook member lending to retain the hook in locked position.

Toward the end of a closing movement of the door the flange 11 ot the door arm comes into contact with the approach plane 25 of the hook member 13, thus causing the latter to perform an unlocking rotation which enables its arm 14 to force the reciprocating plug 23 into the spring chamber against the inner end of the spring 20. As the closing movement of the door progresses the flange 11 of the door arm impinges against the outer end of the plunger 22, thereby forcing the latter inwardly so as further to energize the spring 20. When the door has been fully closed the flange 11 of the door arm is no longer in supporting engagement with the approach plane 25 ot the hook and said hook is therefore capable of performing a locking rotation to bring its ledge 12 into door supporting relation with the flange or ledge 11 of the door arm 7. Immediately upon the door reaching its position of final closure the spring 20 expands, causing the reciprocating plug 23 to act upon the arm 1 -1 of the hook and induce a locking rotation of the latter. The locking cam 17 may then be rotated into locking engagement with the hook 13, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

I claim 1. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a hinged door for closing said opening, a hook for cooperating with said door to lock the latter in closed position, a bracket rigidly secured to the car body, said hook being pivotally connected to said bracket, and spring means mounted on said bracket and adapted to cause said hook to rotate towards locked position, said means being operatively interposcd between said hook and said door and being adapted to be engaged thereby.

2. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, pivoted means tor releasably securing said door in closed position, spring means adapted to actuate said pivoted means for forcing the latter to door securing position, and a bracket secured to the car body and with respect to which said pivoted means are rotatable, said spring means being mounted upon said bracket and adapted to be engaged by said door.

3. A railway car having an opening tor the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, a bracket rigidly secured to the car body and provided with a spring receiving chamber, a spring within said chamber, a hook pivotally connected to said bracket and adapted to engage the door to maintain the latter in closed position, and means movable with respectto the hook whereby said spring is energized upon a closing movement of the door to ctl'cct a sui sequent locking rotation of said hook.

4c. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a swinging door for closing said opening, a pivotally mounted hook for engaging said door to maintain the latter in closed position, and a spring device mounted on the car body and adapted to be engaged and energized by a closing movement of the door, said hook being formed as a bell crank lever having an arm adapted to cooperate with said spring device.

5. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, a bracket rigidly secured to the car body, a hook pivotally secured to said bracket and adapted to maintain the door in closed position, said bracket being provided with a spring chamber, a spring mounted within said chamber, and a plurality of reciprocating members between which said spring is interposed, one of said members being adapted to engage the door and one of said members being adapted to engage said hook.

6. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, a. pivotally mounted hook for engaging said door to secure the latter in closed position, and a spring device for causing said hook to assume its door securing position, said spring device including a spring and a plurality of movable members between which said spring is relatively interposed, one of said movable members be ing adapted to engage said hook and the other to engage said door.

7. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, movable means for releasably securing said door in closed position, a bracket to which said means are movably secured, and a spring device mounted on said bracket and adapted to force said means to door securing position, said spring device including a member movable with ,respect to said first named means and adapted to engage said door, and a spring mounted on said bracket.

8. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, a hook member pivotally mounted on the car body for engaging said door to lock the latter in closed position, a bracket secured to the car body, a spring carried by said bracket, means whereby said spring is adapted to cause a locking rotation of said hook member, and a plunger mounted on and adapted to reciprocate with respect to said bracket, said plunger being adapted to be actuated by said door to energize said spring during a closing movement of the door.

9. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a door for closing said opening, a pivoted hook member adapted to engage said door to lock the latter in closed position, said hook member having an arm oflset outwardly from the side 01 the car, and a spring device for cooperating with said arm to cause a locking rotation of said hook member, said spring device being adapted to be energized by a closing movement of said door.

10. A railway car having an opening for the discharge of lading, a swinging door for closing said opening, a bracket secured to said car, a hook member pivotally mounted upon said bracket and adapted to engage said door to lock the latter in closed position, said bracket being provided with means for mounting a spring device thereon, and a spring device mounted on said bracket and adapted to actuate said hook member to force the latter to locked position, said hook member being provided with an arm. adapted to engage said spring device, and said spring device including a spring, a reciprocating plunger operatively interposed between said spring and said door, and a reciprocating plunger operatively interposed between said spring and said arm of the hook member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM E. IVINE. 

